SXMElections.com

Up-Board Slams Coalition “The Dp Membership Is In Shambles”

St. Maarten – “History surely repeats itself and it seems more so in the formation of the coalition of eight,” United People’s Party (UP) President Sylvia Meyers said in a press statement on behalf of her party’s board yesterday. 

“Imagine the UP-led coalition was heavily criticized for not having a full council of ministers appointed and today the coalition of eight is greeted with the same reality.  Out of seven ministerial positions, they were only able to fill five.” 

“The National Alliance should have led with the same collective responsibility any coalition faces and not hide behind a press release only promoting their minister nominees having passed the screening,” the release states. 

“We are closely monitoring the inconsistencies and political rhetoric which clearly indicates of a weak new majority government.  It is quite obvious there is an apparent weakness in the new coalition and further testimony is the new recruitment effort of the Democratic Party led-ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor with the placement of an advertisement in the daily newspapers looking for persons to join the cabinet.” 

According to the UP-board it is “unheard of when the DP cannot find individuals within its own ranks to join its cabinet.  It’s a crying shame that they have to resort to this route.  It’s widely known the DP membership is in shambles and it seems no better way to recruit new members than by promising cabinet jobs.” 

“We will continue to be the eyes and ears of the people who undoubtedly continue to support us knowing all the trials and tribulations we’ve faced during the past 11-months,” the statement continues Read more

City Manager Announces Retirement Date, Service To Tallahassee Spans 25 Years

SISTER CITY TALLAHASSEE, united States of America - Tallahassee City Manager Anita Favors Thompson announced that she will retire effective November 20, 2015.

“When I became City Manager in 1997, I made the commitment to always put people first and to focus on providing the best services possible to meet the needs of our community,” Favors Thompson said.

“Through my 25 years working for the city and through challenges and accomplishments, I’ve never wavered in my belief that a city’s greatest asset is its people Read more

Dp Announcement - Emil Lee To Be Next Minister Of Vsa

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Democratic Party would like to announce the swearing in of DP candidate Emil Lee as the next Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (VSA).  

Emil will be sworn in tomorrow Thursday, November 19th, 2015 Read more

Message Of Condolence From The Democratic Party

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Our prayers and thoughts are with the government and people of the French Republic as they try to put the pieces together after the horrendous attacks throughout the French capital on Friday, November 13th.

Their personal and collective loss is immeasurable and we  hope and pray that they will find strength, peace and comfort in the coming days and weeks.

We look closer to home and extend words of comfort to our French St. Martin brothers and sisters.

This is not only an attack on the French capital, but one on humanity itself Read more

Seven New Political Parties Report For 2016 Elections

St. Maarten – An astonishing number of seven new political parties reported to the offices of the Electoral Council yesterday to submit their request to be registered for the February 9 elections. Among them is the St. Maarten Christian Party, led by Pastor Wycliffe Smith. On the other hand, the party of European Dutch residents did not show up, reportedly because they did not have enough time to prepare their documentation.

With the seven new parties – if they get all their formalities in order – the field for the elections will consist of eleven and possibly twelve parties Read more

Dp Pushes Again Membership Of Open Government Partnership

DP policy advisor Emil Lee at the summit in Mexico City. Photo contributed

St. Maarten – The Democratic Party is once more pushing the country’s membership of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), an issue it made a core element of its election campaign last year Read more

Retired Politician Dave Levenstone: Saba, Statia And St. Maarten Have To Strengthen Their Ties

Dave Levenstone. Photo Caribisch Netwerk

THE BOTTOM, SABA – The Saban political veteran Dave Levenstone says that his fellow-Sabans do not speak up enough, because the evaluation report about constitutional reform states that Saba does better than the other islands, Hazel Durand reports on Caribisch Netwerk.

“But I do not think that we have to see this as a setback,” he says. “The Island Council must establish an independent committee to study the evaluation and to arrive that way at solutions that are in the best interest of the island.” Levenstone is the former leader of the Saba Democratic Party and the presenter of the poplar political radio program Good Day Saba Read more

Winners And Losers: Who Will Survive The Polls In February?

St. Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – February 9, 2016 is crunch day for politicians and those who aspire to become one. The parliamentary elections – for some mysterious reason perceived by some as ‘snap elections’, whatever that may be – will give voters the opportunity to speak their mind about the constitutional drama that concluded on Wednesday when the ministers of the Marcel Gumbs cabinet tendered their resignation and Governor Drs Read more

President Of Parliament Visits The "Lady Grace Morning Show" Friday

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Leader of the Democratic Party and Chairperson of the Parliament of St. Maarten, the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams stated on Friday that the matter of election has been used by the outgoing Prime Minister, Marcel Gumbs as a trump card Read more

Dp Criticizes Mp De Weever: “Counterpart Policy Is A Sure Recipe For Massive Lay-Offs”

St. Maarten – “As much as he tries, MP and former Minister OF Public health, Social Development and Labor Cornelius de Weever will never be able to convince anyone that the reason for his defection from the Red-White-Blue coalition in 2014 had something to do with opposition he encountered back then to “his” counterpart law,” Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams states in a press release Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- As much as he tries, MP and former VSA Minister, Mr. Cornelius V. H de Weever, will never be able to convince any-one that the reason for his defection from the Red-White-Blue coalition in 2014 had something to do with opposition he encountered back then to "his" counterpart law.
While this is far from the truth to begin with, the MP has failed up to this day to show any tangible results from enforcing this policy, as he claimed he and his new allies would. The MP seemed hell-bent on forcing through this policy unilaterally, which approach is doomed to fail and rather than get the private sector on board, would have created a rift which the country can ill-afford.
Forcing any business to hire, because "government says so", is a sure recipe for lay-offs and unemployment.
Luckily for all of us, those in the know are quietly, yet effectively approaching the matter of employment in the only manner it will really work and that is through partnership.
The Democratic Party reiterates its position on this matter, namely that only through concerted efforts between labor and business will we see more of our people employed in careers of their choice and for those who seek such, mobility in the labor market, in other words new job opportunities.
In this context, the initiative by the Labor Department via their Start Here program, coupled with their support for the SHTA job fair and business initiatives such as those of the Maho Group of Companies, is the way to go if we are serious about placing more of our people in positions throughout St Read more

President Of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams: “Mps Waste Hundreds Of Guilders”

St. Maarten – “Every half hour wasted by Members of Parliament costs taxpayers nine hundred guilders. (15 x 60 is 900 guilders). This amount is close to what some persons in our community earn monthly after deductions. It equals the school fee for others. For yet others, it equals the monthly cost for day-care,” Democratic Party MP and President of parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams stated after a meeting of parliament did not take place on Monday morning due to a lack of quorum Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- During its review of the donation registrations of political parties, the Electoral Council noted that several parties received an excess of what is legally allowed in donations. Both the donors who exceeded the donation limit and the parties were informed about this matter in the month of June of this year. Three parties were requested to return excess donations as is stipulated by law and to submit evidence thereof to the Electoral Council. These parties are the Democratic Party, the National Alliance and the United People Party Read more

Important Meeting Of Statia Island Council Postponed

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - A meeting of the Island Council of St. Eustatius which was scheduled for Tuesday morning to debate the financial report among other pressing matters was postponed.

The meeting was at the request of the Democratic Party.

Speaking to our news department, leader of government on St. Eustatius and Councilman of the PLP, Clyde van Putten also told us that a proposal brought by the opposition to amend the agenda was voted down by the coalition government of the UPC/PLP Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever spoke out on Wednesday for the first time since he left the Democratic Party to form a government with the UPP political party in 2014 Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Today our young island nation is in a constitutional crisis because of the different interpretations of articles #33 and #59 of our constitution. The Council of Ministers has requested the opinions of various Dutch constitutional experts from the Hague. Our governor has taken the high road and requested three judges to provide an advice on this political impasse in five working days. We don’t know if the eight majority in the parliament of St. Maarten has acquired advice from any legal minds locally or from the Hague.
What bothers me is that time after time our elected officials especially those supporting the Council of Ministers have ridiculed the same Dutch for meddling in our internal affairs Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The eight Members of Parliament that now has the majority in Parliament told members of the media that the Governor of St. Maarten already made a clear decision on the current political situation. Leader of the National Alliance MP William Marlin said that the Governor Eugene Holiday clearly informed the Council of Ministers situation in 2013 is the same as the current situation because there is a majority in Parliament that are ready to form a government.
Marlin said the Governor told the Council of Ministers that the constitution of St Read more

>Simpson Bay:--- An early Sunday morning shooting has left one person dead. The shooting took place shortly after 9am Sunday morning by Robbie’s Lottery located at La Palapa building in Simpson Bay. Persons on the scene said the victim that was shot dead seems to be an employee working for Robbie’s Lottery and he apparently got shot while trying to open the business place. However, that could not be confirmed by anyone. SMN News further learnt that the victim is of Latino decent.
SMN News contacted Police Spokesman Ricardo Henson for confirmation on the shooting, Henson who was on the scene of the shooting said “I am not giving you any information Read more

De Weever cancels NA meeting, cites safety, security challenges

PHILIPSBURG--Second Deputy Chairman Cornelius de Weever has cancelled the Parliament meeting called by the new National Alliance (NA)-led coalition for today, Thursday, at 6:00pm citing in a letter to Members of Parliament (MPs) “the current safety and security challenges.”

The new coalition had decided to bypass submitting a request for a Parliament meeting to De Weever and had instead sent out on convocation letter on Wednesday to all MPs directly to attend an “urgent meeting” today.

The meeting had as its main agenda point the appointment of a chairperson, and a second deputy chairperson.

The letter, signed by the eight MPs of the new coalition, stated “in view of the recent developments” during meetings of Parliament, they have “all agreed” that today’s meeting would be chaired by MP George Pantophlet (NA).

De Weever in his letter to the MPs this afternoon said he took note of meeting time Read more

Sarah elected new Parliament Chair in spite of De Weever’s cancellation

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams is again at the helm of Parliament. She was elected Parliament Chairwoman by the new National Alliance (NA)-led coalition in an extraordinary meeting of Parliament on Thursday evening Read more

Government has ‘autonomous right’ to dissolve Parliament

~ Governor wrote in 2013 letter ~

PHILIPSBURG--“The right to dissolve Parliament by national decree is a constitutional and autonomous right of the Government,” wrote Governor Eugene Holiday in a letter dated May 16, 2013, to then-Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams when she tried to stopped the then-National Alliance (NA)-led Council of Ministers from invoking Article 59 of the Constitution.

The letter came to light this week as political tension intensified between the newest NA-led coalition with a majority in Parliament and the UP/De Weever/Marlin-Romeo-supported Council of Ministers, after the crumbling of the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition.

The current Marcel Gumbs Cabinet has held tight to the view that it is its right to dissolve Parliament in the face of the shifted majority in Parliament Read more

Chair Aborts Meeting Within Sixty Seconds: New Majority Calls Action Mp De Weever Illegal

St. Maarten – Acting as the second vice president of Parliament, independent MP Cornelius de Weever wrong-footed parliament yesterday morning by opening and closing a meeting designed to appoint a new chair within sixty seconds after which he “ran out of the hall,” according to Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.

De Weever called on article 37 of the rules of order, after remarking that the cabinet had submitted a national decree to dissolve parliament Read more

New coalition calls Parliament meeting for today at 6:00pm

PHILIPSBURG--The new National Alliance (NA)-led coalition has decided to bypass submitting a request for a meeting of Parliament to Second Deputy Parliament Chairman Cornelius de Weever, and instead has sent out a convocation letter directly to all Members of Parliament (MPs) to attend an “urgent meeting” today, Thursday, in Parliament House, starting at 6:00pm.

The meeting has as its main agenda point the appointment of a chairperson and a second vice-chairperson Read more

style="text-align: center;">Uninsured Police Officers called to protect Ousted Council of Ministers

PHILIPSBURG:--- Heavy equipment’s were used early Wednesday morning to block the entrance of the Government Administration Building. The drivers of three heavy equipment arrived in the area of the Government Administration Building shortly before 5am where they parked their vehicles blocking the entrance towards the Government Administration Building and left.
Around 6:30 am the night watch- commander Officer Gomes along with some police officers walked towards the Government Administration and began questioning bystanders and the security guards as to who parked the heavy equipment’s that were blocking the streets Read more